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Niagara County to replenish insurance fund after lawsuit settlement

LOCKPORT - Niagara County legislators will be asked Dec. 6 to replenish the county's self-insurance fund for liability claims in the wake of a $2 million payout to an injured construction worker.

The fund sank below $1 million, which County Treasurer Kyle R. Andrews considered a risky level, after the county had to send $2 million to Michael J. Lombardo of Somerset, whose leg was crushed by a stack of replacement windows as he rode on a flatbed truck to a building renovation site at Niagara County Community College in 2008.

The settlement of Lombardo's lawsuit, approved in June, called for him to be paid $2 million right away, plus $300,000 a year from 2017 to 2021.

Andrews said even after the $2 million is transferred to the liability fund, the county would have an available fund balance, or surplus, of $26.2 million.

Thomas J. Prohaska– Thomas Prohaska has been a reporter for The Buffalo News since 1995. A graduate of Starpoint Central High School and St. Bonaventure University, he previously worked at WLVL Radio in Lockport.